This recipe was originally prepared for the Queen’s coronation in 1952 and has been a family favourite of the Hickmores for decades. We adapted a recipe from the ‘hairy bikers’ You can play a little with the amount of curry powder depending on your taste. The recipe is not meant to be ‘handstand in the showers’ hot! Just a mild curry flavour.
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breasts with skin removed
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 whole lemon, grated zest and juice
- Tbsp butter
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 tsp medium curry powder
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- Half glass of white wine
- 100ml chicken stock
- 1 tbsp apricot jam
- Half cup of mayonnaise
- 1 x 250ml tub of crème fraiche (cultured cream)
- Dried apricots (about 10)
- 4 spring onions finely chopped
- 4 sprigs of finely chopped coriander
- Dash tabasco sauce
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- green salad to serve
- palm full flaked almonds (toasted lightly dry frying pan)
Method
- Rub the olive oil all over the chicken. Scatter over the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper.
- cook the chicken for 20–25 minutes at 180c, or until cooked through. Set aside to cool.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the red onion and chilli and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cook for 2–3 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a further minute. Add the wine and simmer until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half.
- Stir in the jam and stock, and simmer until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half. Set aside to cool.
- Mix the mayonnaise and the crème fraîche together in a bowl, then stir in the curry dressing. Fold in the apricots, spring onions, lemon juice and coriander.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Fold into the curry dressing and season with salt (not too much) pepper and Tabasco (not too much) to taste. Serve with a green salad, and scatter with the toasted almond flakes.
Stephen is a hospitality professional from Johannesburg South Africa. His career started with THF hotels in the UK and subsequently with the Southern Sun Hotel group in Johannesburg. Stephen’s first steps into entrepreneurship was Hickmore Recruitment / CareerMap, a leading supplier of Senior and Exec recruitment services. Stephen was a founder of Pple Hospitality (formerly HSC) the largest Hospitality Industry full-service outsourced staffing company in South Africa. In March 2020 Stephen became a director and owner of the Swiss Hotel School South Africa, which is now his full time endeavour. Stephen writes for a number of publications on food and hospitality industry matters, trends and opinions.
